Articles
Head of Exeter STAR, Marvella Horthy, outlines the activities organised in support of refugees by Exeter students to the attendees.
Routes brings together representatives from REUK, Universities of Sanctuary and STAR in Exeter to discuss refugee access to higher education
Written by Hannah Cowdell (Routes Network Builder)
On the 25th and 26th May, 2023, the Routes network hosted representatives from REUK, Universities of Sanctuary and Student Action for Refugees (STAR) National to discuss how to collectively work on challenges to refugee access to higher education.
On the first day, REUK and STAR National gave presentations on their current activities, highlighting opportunities and challenges for the future. Professor Marcia Schenck of the University of Potsdam then joined us by Zoom to discuss her work with the Princeton Global History Lab, and the possibilities of virtual classrooms to bring together students from across the world, including from contexts of displacement. In the afternoon, we heard presentations from members of the Routes network on their respective projects, including talks from postgraduate researcher and Routes steering group member Kinan Noah on ‘Breaking Barriers, Building Bridges: From Surviving to Thriving to Empowering Refugee Students’ and Dr Katie Brown on her experiences of teaching an undergraduate module on Venezuelan migration. The day concluded with reflections from Dr Caitlin Kight and Dr Rebecca Georgis from Exeter’s School of Education.
The following day kicked off with a presentation from Universities of Sanctuary National, and continued with a meeting by the Universities of Sanctuary National Steering Group. After lunch, we welcomed further guests from the University of Exeter, including Professor Timothy Quine, the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Education), for an open meeting of the Universities of Sanctuary working group at the University of Exeter, chaired by Jim Price. We ended two exciting days of discussion and exchange with a final session drawing out key learnings from the event and how we can take these forward into future collaborations.
Date: 4 August 2022